Indian Railways passenger traffic still struggling to overcome pandemic woes says Economic Survey 2024

The key focus areas for Railways include fast capacity augmentation, modernisation of rolling stock and maintenance, improving quality of services and energy efficiency.

The Indian Railways' passenger traffic is still suffering due to the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2023-24, said the Economic Survey for 2023-24 tabled in Parliament on July 22.

Passenger traffic was 673 crore in FY24 increasing by about 5.2 percent compared to the previous year but falling short of the 808.6 crore seen in FY20, the Survey said.

The Railways has set an ambitious target of ferrying around 830 crore passengers in 2024-25, however, it is struggling to live up to the target.

The Survey reviews how the economy performed this fiscal year and the road ahead for the next year.

Despite the slow recovery of passenger traffic, the Indian Railways has taken multiple steps to enhance passenger travel experience for the middle class, the Survey said.

The Survey said that initiatives like the high-speed, long-distance Vande sleeper trainset coaches and Vande metro trainset coaches expected in 2024-25 will enhance passenger travel experience.

It added that the Indian Railways has introduced Wi-Fi facilities at 6,108 stations and has several initiatives for providing clean environment in and around railway stations and trains.

Freight volumes steam forward 

The Indian Railways focus on freight movement has helped the national transporter report a 5.3 percent increase in freight volumes in 2023-24 when compared to 2022-23 as it carried 158.8 crore tonnes of revenue-earning freight in FY24.

The freight loadings of the railways achieved a CAGR of 7.1 per cent from FY20 to FY24, with the special emphasis on capacity addition, new rolling stock and improving operational efficiencies.

Tracking the journey of Railways during the pandemic, the Economic Survey says that “the national rail achieved its highest-ever production for both locomotives and wagons in FY24" as production of coaches, locomotive and wagon reached around 1,400 units in 2023-24, much higher than the 8,50 produced in 2022-23.

Going forward projects for three major corridors viz. (1) High-traffic density corridors, (2) Energy, Mineral and Cement Corridors and (3) Rail Sagar (port connectivity) corridors are also planned to reduce logistics cost, carbon footprint and boost railway freight volumes.

Investment in Railways on the rise

The central government spent Rs 2.62 lakh crore as capital expenditure for the Indian Railways in 2023-24, which indicates a 28.4 percent jump in capital expenditure when compared to the same period last year.

"Capital expenditure on Railways has increased by 77 percent over the past 5 years with significant investments in the construction of new lines,
gauge conversion, and doubling," the Survey said.

Indian Railways, with over 68,584 route km (as of 31st March 2024) and 12.54 lakh employees (as of 1st April 2024), is the fourth largest network in the world under single management.

The Survey highlighted that the Indian Railways has introduced eight centralised training institutes for its personnel in diverse fields.

"About 6.5 lakh railway officials have undergone training in FY24," the Survey said.

The Indian Railways has also developed railway-specific learning content on the iGOT Karmayogi platform, the Survey highlighted.

"Over 80 percent of Indian Railway officials are onboarded on the iGOT Karmayogi platform, and 12 percent are currently enrolled in at least one
course," the Survey said.

Reducing carbon footprint

The Survey also said that Indian Railways is looking to reduce its carbon footprint primarily through sourcing of its energy requirements through renewable energy sources.

"The expected requirement of installation of renewable capacity by 2029-30 is around 30 Giga Watts," the Survey said.

It highlighted that the Indian Railways has undertaken steps like shifting from diesel to electric traction, promotion of energy efficiency and afforestation to reduce it carbon footprint so far.

Carbon emission by 2029-30 as per business-as-usual mode is estimated to be 60 million tonnes.

As of March 2024, 231 Mega Watt (MW) of solar plants (both on Rooftops and on land) and about 103 MW of wind power plants have been commissioned, the Survey said adding that going forward about 5,750 MW of renewable capacity has also been tied up.